Nothing fancy here, just tried and true, old fashioned, family style recipes from my kitchen in Alaska.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

COOKIE BOWLS

Looking for a fun and inexpensive way to jazz up your next family gathering or birthday party? Try these cookie bowls. Not only are they easy to do, but you can fill them with anything from pudding to ice cream. The bowls can be baked ahead of time and frozen (unfilled); there are tons of possibilities.

The instructions for these cookie bowls call for forming them over an inverted cupcake pan, however, I wanted bigger (and thicker) ones because they were for a specific purpose and had to be strong enough to travel well, so I formed them over an inverted Texas size muffin pan.

IMPORTANT NOTE

THIS RECIPE CALLS FOR HALF SHORTENING AND HALF BUTTER. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO SUBSTITUTE ALL BUTTER, IT WILL NOT WORK !! IF YOU USE ALL BUTTER, THE DOUGH WILL SAG AND SPREAD ALL OVER THE PLACE AS IT BAKES. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATED COOKIE DOUGH DOES NOT WORK EITHER (IT ALSO SPREADS).1/4 cup butter flavored shortening (no substitutions)1/4 cup butter (room temperature)(no substitutions)1/3 cup white sugar1/3 cup brown sugar1 egg1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon baking powder1½ cups all purpose flour1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chipsBeat together shortening, butter and sugars in a large bowl; add the egg and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add the flour and baking powder and mix well then stir in the miniature chocolate chips.Put batter into a large plastic bag and flatten into a disk; chill for about an hour. Preheat your oven to 375°. Turn your cupcake (or muffin) pan upside down and cover every other cup with foil. NOTE: standard size cupcake pan requires a 4" circle of foil and the Texas size muffin pan requires a 6" circle of foil. Spray the foil lightly with vegetable spray.NOTE: I used the new no stick foil and didn't have to spray it at all.NOTE: If you are using a standard size cupcake pan, you can use full size paper cupcake liners instead of the foil.

Roll the chilled cookie dough (between two pieces of waxed paper) out to about 1/8th inch or about the same thickness as pie dough. Cut circles and drape over foil, smoothing wrinkles and/or cracks in the dough together and trimming to fit.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until light brown. Remove from oven and let them COOL ON THE PAN FOR 10 MINUTES BEFORE TRYING TO REMOVE THEM.After 10 minutes, gently lift them off of the pan (use the tip of a butter knife to lift one corner of the cookie bowl first) but DON'T REMOVE THE FOIL FROM THE INSIDE OF THE COOKIE BOWL UNTIL IT IS COMPLETELY COOLED.

I saw this on Pinterest and thought I would try it just from the picture. I did not read your post first:( I used my own cookie recipe and put it over a muffin tin. The bowl worked but the cookie spread a lot on the bottom so I did not have nice little edges like you. Do you think it was the recipe or the fact that I did not chill the dough first? Since cookies normally spread how do you keep this from not spreading? Thanks for helping me.

Tiffany: I'm guessing your cookie recipe is made with butter. Butter makes cookie dough spread. If you use shortening (I use butter flavor shortening) the cookies will not spread when you cook them. People freak out about using shortening in cookies, but in all reality shortening has HALF of the saturated fat of butter.

Thanks for answering Tiffany's question! I had the same issue when I tried this...the dough expanded waaay more than I planned for, dripped down all over the oven, it was a total disaster. I'm definitely going to try again with your recipe. :) And the aluminum foil is genius! can't wait to try again!

Guess I will have the same problem of the dough spreading. I dont know what shortening is so used butter and margarine . The dough already stuck to the paper,my hands and the glass I used to make a circle will see what it does when cooked. Linda

So, I'm confused about the note here. It says not to use "ALL the butter" but doesn't specify how much butter to use instead. Why even include the 1/4 cup amount in the recipe if you're just going to add a note saying not to use a 1/4 cup after all?

To Anonymous: If you will re-read the instructions, it says not to use butter only (recipe calls for part shortening and part butter). Some people don't like to use shortening, so they want to use ALL butter, but doing that will make the cookie dough sag while baking.

Just finished my first attempt with Pillsbury sugar cookie dough Many of them are fine. I learned alot and will keep practicing. They are darling. Will fill them with unbaked cheesecake and cherry pie filling. So creative, thanks.

these cookie cups are darling.I remember when I was younger that my mom used lard in baking. Needless to say, that was many, many years ago.I also thought about using the foil cupcake lines in place of cutting circles from my foil.How cute these would be making mini ones; when cool, dip the rims in chocolate and adding a peanut butter cup or other candy and just putting in microwave for a few seconds just until the candy begins to soften and top with a marshmallow. What a sweet candy treat these would make.Thank youColleenB.Texas

Hi Coleen,Just ran across your blog and I love love love your recipes. I have a closed group on facebook and I know they would love for me tp post some of you recipe... would that be OK? I will always link back to your blog...waiting on your replyHave a blessed dayCherie

I tried making this today and my dough was really crumbly. It seemed as if it wasn't wet enough to absorb all the dry ingredients. So from there, nothing else worked. I checked and re-checked the recipe. Any suggestions? I really want to make these right for my son's birthday.

I saw this on Pinterest and tried to make it. I thought it would be easy but I have tried twice, but were unsuccessful. Since I am not a baker, I used store bought dough. Both times, the dough spread and dripped into the bottom of my over. Any suggestions?